60-minute interactive workshops

250 word abstract + session plan
Is your topic comprehensive enough to fill a 60-minute session?
Are there enough and opportunities for active involvement of participants?
How will you make it interactive and engage participants?
Think about what the objective is and make sure your abstract shows how you are going to achieve it.

Workshops should provide participants with a tangible take-away of information; this doesn’t have to be paper based – it can be an idea, an inspiration, or an action point.

20-minute paper presentation

250 word abstract
A paper presentation can be used to present the findings of some research that you have been working on. Many people engaged in research take the opportunity of presenting papers at a conference as a preliminary to getting a full piece of work published, but that isn’t always the case.
Abstracts for conference papers should meet the review criteria and the conference themes. The review panel will want to know what is important about your research and why delegates will be interested. The ALDinHE conference has a strong practice orientation so reviewers and delegates will want to know ‘what is the value of your findings and can it be used to inform practice?’
If you are not engaged in research activity, you can use the paper presentation format to report on interesting examples of practice or developments in service provision.
Please note, the paper presentation slots are 20 minutes presentation plus 5 minutes Q & A/discussion.

5-minute lightning talk

100 word topic outline
These are short presentations delivered in a Pecha Kucha style. This style of conference session has been introduced in the last few years and has proven very popular. Presentations have to be delivered within a five minute time period, with questions and discussion taking place after all the presenters have finished.
If you are interested in presenting a short lightning talk at the conference, the outline should make it clear that your topic can be delivered in such a clear and concise way.

Expert practitioner mini-keynote

150 word outline of your area of expertise + 3 prompt questions
This will take place during the Tuesday morning plenary and will run in a ‘speed dating’ style. We invite you to present your area of expertise (5 minutes) and prepare 3 discussion prompts of contention or debate (10 minutes) for a small group. After 15 minutes you will move to another group and repeat the process. There will be 3 iterations in total.
A 30-minute plenary will follow, led by the ALDinHE chair.

Poster (not reviewed)

100 word topic outline
If you haven’t created a poster before (experienced colleagues very welcome too), this is an ideal opportunity to submit a poster proposal. The possibilities are wide open and we would like to see poster proposals that show:

Particular aspects of your work – solo or team – that you are especially enthusiastic about and want to share

Projects or initiatives where you would like to share ideas and get feedback

Research, including accounts of research in progress

Presentations about themes or concepts that you are exploring

Student development or staff development, in the context of student learning development

Student perspectives, including posters by students about their experience of student learning development

Any aspect of your work where you are keen to share ideas and build links with colleagues at other universities or colleges

Poster presenters are invited to be on hand during Tuesday and Wednesday lunchtimes to discuss their poster with delegates.
Please note, posters are not reviewed but you will be contacted prior to the conference to arrange display.

Resource swap shop (not reviewed)

100 word outline
This will take place on the Monday afternoon and is designed to be an informal opportunity for practitioners to share Learning Development resources. You are invited to bring a favourite resource you have discovered or created yourself. You will briefly introduce your resource and outline how you use it and why it is particularly effective.
Please note, the resource swap shop proposals are not reviewed but you will be contacted prior to the conference with details of how the swap shop will run.

World cafe discussion ideas (not reviewed)

We invite you to submit questions or ‘wicked problems’ related to the conference themes for small group discussions. Please ensure your questions/problems are clearly articulated.

Wild card

250 word outline
We invite you to be creative and imaginative and submit a proposal with a difference. We particularly welcome proposals which make effective use of Northampton’s innovative campus space.